Sean Hannity followed up his radio-show smear of the Gold Star Khan family with more explicit bigotry on his television show. While chickenhawk Hannity pretended he and draft-dodger Donald Trump are the bigger patriots.

On his radio show, Hannity tried to undermine Khizr Khan’s moving criticism of Trump at the Democratic National Convention by highlighting the fact that he’s an immigration attorney and, therefore, probably has a “political grievance” against “the vetting of refugees and Trump’s general comments about radical Islam.” The suggestion was clear: Khan, who lost his war-hero son in the Iraq war, isn’t a good American like five-draft-deferments Trump. Nor as patriotic as the war-loving, non-serving Hannity.

Hannity doubled down on the smear when Trump ran to Fox News’ Hannity show for some Republican Rehab after a day of withering criticism from Republicans and veterans over Trump’s ethnic counterattacks on the Khan family.

Hannity – always a champion for white guys in trouble for bigotry, asked leading questions blatantly designed to exonerate Trump. From the Media Matters transcript (with my emphases):

HANITY: You did call this man’s son a hero, did you not?

[…]

When you were talking, when you talk about refugees or illegal immigration, you’re not talking about people like the Khans. For example, James Clapper, our national director of intelligence, our CIA director, our FBI director, assistant FBI director, our chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and even General John Allen, Obama’s special envoy to defeat ISIS, they have all warned us that the refugees that Obama is taking in and Hillary wants a 550 percent increase, that that refugee population will be infiltrated. So are you clear that you are not talking about the Khans. You are talking about what these people are saying? 

But before long, perhaps desperate for ways to defend the indefensible, Hannity tried to suggest that Trump was indeed talking about the Khans when he warned about ISIS infiltrating the U.S. And Trump did not reject the theory:

HANNITY: You know, ISIS is involved in an attack every 84 hours. That came out last week. We know in the U.S. from our FBI director that all 50 states, there’s over 1,000 ISIS investigations going on in the country. It sounds like the media wants one narrative. You’re talking about protecting the homeland. And I want to ask why do you think Mr. Khan is going after you when you talk about specifically people coming from countries that practice Sharia, which discriminate against Christians and Jews and women and gays and lesbians, and whose values under Sharia are the antithesis of our constitutional values, and Hillary voted for the war and voted to pull out early? Why do you think you’re being targeted? 

TRUMP: Well, I have no idea, but I watched him at the Democratic National Convention, and he was really going after me. There’s no question about it.

I seriously doubt Hannity’s offensive “defense” is going to work any better than Trump’s.

Watch it below, from the August 1 Hannity, via Media Matters.